From Girl to Guardian
by gisellethegazelle
Summary: (I received a request to write a Jarida one shot in which Jack and Merida have a daughter named Ruari.) Jack and Merida a relieved that their little girl seems to be completely normal, not showing any signs of having inherited her father's magic. But then, her fourth birthday comes to pass and everything begins to change.


The sun had barely peeked over the horizon, but Jack was already awake. He slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Merida and quietly changed out of his pajamas and into his familiar brown pants and white shirt. The weather was still nice, so he left his cloak hanging on its hook. He made sure to grab his staff before he tiptoed out of their room. He walked, silently and stealthily, down the hall to his daughter's room.

He pushed open the heavy wooden door, as gently as its creaking hinges would allow. All he could see of his little girl was the mess of red hair she'd inherited from her mother. He watched the little girl's blankets rise and fall with her slow and steady breathing.

Jack smiled. He still wasn't used to being a father. True, he was old enough to be a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather even, though he still felt like a teenager. He certainly still looked like one. But, after the wedding, he and Merida decided that, if they were going to have a child (if they even _could_ have a child), it was best not to wait. They wanted to spend as much time together as a family as possible. Jack didn't regret that decision, not for a single moment.

Jack set his staff down by the door and tiptoed to his daughter's bedside and raised his arms, ready to pounce.

"Boo!" The little girl exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. Jack fell back in shock, and the little girl giggled. "I win! I win!"

Jack laughed, "Yeah, yeah, you win again." He wrapped his arms around his daughter and swung her around. "Happy Birthday, Ruari."

The name rolled off Jack's tongue as if he'd been speaking it his whole life. Ruari meant meant "red king" and was, traditionally, more of a boy's name. Merida's father had chosen the name, back when he was sure Merida's first born would be a son and after she vetoed the name "Fergus". By the time Ruari was born, everyone had grown so used to the name that it just stuck. It was a fitting name, though. The little girl was just like her mother, rejecting the life of a typical princess in favor of traditionally male pastimes since the day she was born.

"I'm four today!" Ruari exclaimed, holding up exactly four fingers.

"That's right, sweetheart," he said, setting Ruari down. "Let's get you dressed, and I'm going to take you on an adventure before Mommy wakes up."

Jack helped Ruari pick out a simple brown dress and helped the little girl put it on correctly. Then she plopped down and crossed her legs, facing away from Jack. She shook her head, and her messy red curls bounced around with every movement.

"Are you sure you want _me_ to do your braid?" Jack asked. "Mommy does it much better."

"Mommy showed you how. I _saw_ you doing Mommy's braid."

Jack sighed and sat behind Ruari. Merida had been teaching him how to braid Ruari's hair, using herself as a model, so that he could do it when she was busy, but after an hour of frustrated hair pulling, he wasn't any closer to creating his first successful braid. Ruari handed him a few pins and a ribbon. He set them on the floor beside him and got to work, doing his best to divide Ruari's hair into all the different sections he'd need to do the braid Merida had taught him.

But, just as he was about to start twisting the braid, Jack noticed something strange. A lock of Ruari's hair, just one single curl, was different from all the rest. While the rest of her hair was red, like Merida's, this one curl was white as snow, like Jack's hair. He dropped her hair and let out a small gasp. How long had that curl been like that? It was hidden under the rest of her hair, easy to miss, but he was certain that every lock of hair on his daughter's head had been red.

"You know what, let's forget the braid today. We'll leave your hair like Mommy's today," Jack said as he stood up. Ruari stood and stared at him with her big brown eyes, her bottom lip quivering. "Hey now, don't be upset. We've got an adventure to go on today."

Ruari smiled and raised her arms. Jack picked her up. "You're getting big, sweetheart. I might not be able to carry you much longer!" He joked.

Jack grabbed his staff and headed out the door and out of Castle Dunbroch with his daughter in tow.

Once outside the castle, Jack set Ruari on the ground, but only for a moment. She climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms and legs around her father.

"Hey wind!" Jack called. The wind picked up, and Jack took flight. Ruari let out an excited scream.

The only time Ruari got to fly on her father's back was when Merida wasn't there. To Merida's dismay, she'd grown up to be almost as protective as her mother. It frustrated her, and she knew that Ruari was probably safer flying with Jack than almost anywhere else, but she couldn't help but worry. Jack hated to go behind Merida's back like that, but he also couldn't bring himself to say no to Ruari. She loved flying on the wind more than anything, and it _was_ her birthday.

The wind carried them along a familiar path, first in circles around the castle and then off into the distance. They flew over the clearing with the great stone circle where Mor'du had finally perished. Fergus still told the stories of Mor'du, how he lost his leg and how his wife, Queen Elinor, had been the one to finally defeat the beast.

Ruari loved the stories her grandfather told almost as much as her father's stories, from his days as a Guardian. It was a life Jack had given up, if only for a short while, so that he could be with Merida for the rest of her life.

When their flight was done, the wind dropped them off just outside the castle. Jack set Ruari down, and she ran off ahead. Jack walked behind her, slowly, finally giving himself a chance to think about the strange lock of white hair on Ruari's head. His mind wandered through a land of paranoid possibilities. He'd thought that his baby girl was completely human, like his mother, but was it possible that she was something more?

Merida met them just inside the castle. Ruari jumped into her mother's arms, and Merida raised an eyebrow at Jack. He shrugged and smiled, making a half-genuine attempt to hide his staff behind his back.

The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye. Jack and Merida took their daughter for a picnic, where Merida presented her little girl with her first bow, and Ruari fired her first arrows. That night, in the Great Hall, there was a magnificent feast that continued well after Merida and Jack took Ruari upstairs to go to bed.

Once Jack had read Ruari a story and Merida had sung her a lullaby, the two kissed their daughter and tiptoed out of the already sleeping princess's room. Merida walked, quickly and with purpose, as she always did, back to the room she and Jack shared in the castle. Jack, however, hung back, walking slowly because he dreaded the conversation that he knew he and Merida would have to have.

He shut the bedroom door. "Merida," he said quietly.

Merida spun around. "Yes, Jack?" She smiled.

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but froze up at the last second. He sighed and said, "Sweet dreams."

The two of them went to bed, and Jack tried to forget about the lock of white hair hidden in his daughter's red hair. The next day, Jack tried to forget, and the next day and the next. It took Jack over a month to forget about the secret he kept from Merida. Thanks to the hustle and bustle of daily life, Jack did, eventually, forget.

But jack did, eventually, remember.

"JAAAAAAAAACCCKKK!" Came a scream from down the hall. Jack had been asleep, but Merida's shouting sent him running to Ruari's room.

Merida met him halfway down the hall. "Have you seen Ruari's hair?"

Jack held his breath. "Yes," he replied. "It's red and curly, like yours."

"Correction, it _was_ red. Now, it's white, like _yours_."

"It's just a streak, nothing to worry – "

"Just a streak? Her whole head is as white as snow!" Merida paused for a moment, her face growing red. And, you _knew_?"

"I didn't want to worry you," he said putting a hand on Merida's shoulder.

Merida pulled back. "How long have you known? How did this happen? What's going to happen now?"

"Uh, a little over a month, I don't know, and I don't know." Jack ruffled his hair. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Everything will be fine."

Merida shook her fists, ready to yell at Jack more, but she just exhaled powerfully and ran her hands down her face, distorting her features until her still young skin sprang back into place. "Just go see for yourself."

Jack walked into Ruari's room, with Merida close behind. They cracked open the heavy wooden door and peeked in. A little girl stood, holding a small mirror, giggling and playing with her hair.

She turned towards them. "I look like Daddy!" She said, laughing wildly.

Jack entered the room and played "Guardians" with her, per her request, while Merida watched from the doorway.

Merida leaned against the doorframe and let a sad smile creep its way onto her face. She thought about the future. She knew that Jack wouldn't age. He hadn't changed a bit since the day they met, but would the same happen to her little girl? Ruari had grown from a baby into a toddler into a child. Would she keep growing until she was Merida's age? Older? What if she stopped growing as a child?

Ruari hardly looked like Merida now, at least, Merida thought so. The little girl had Merida's round face, her light freckles, but the red hair that made them look so similar was gone. She still had brown eyes, like Jack's had been a long time ago, before he became Jack Frost. Would that change too?

Merida shook her head, trying to push thoughts of the future from her mind. She left the doorway and walked down to the archery range. She hoped shooting a few arrows would clear her head.

But Merida couldn't clear her mind, and, though he pretended everything was normal, neither could Jack. After a while, they stopped talking about Ruari's hair unless she asked about it. No one mentioned when her eyes started to change from brown to blue or when her skin began to grow paler and paler.

By the time Ruari was twelve years old, she looked like a smaller version of her father, with only her curls and the shape of her face to remind the world of who her mother was. There was also her personality. She was brave and boisterous, picking fights with any boy in the kingdom who dared to say she couldn't play with them because she was a girl. She was as good of an archer as her mother had been at that age, too, maybe even a little better.

Life was peaceful and pleasant. Merida started teaching her daughter how to be a princess, though Merida hadn't even become a queen yet. (Hamish, Hubert, and Harris had elected not to take the throne, choosing instead to live out their days as adventurers, discovering new lands and making all sorts of mischief.) Merida tried to go easy on the wild little girl, but she often caught herself acting as strictly as her mother had. On one such day, she just let out a sigh and let Ruari leave the lesson, giving her the rest of the day to explore.

Ruari, of course, headed straight for the small bow and quiver of arrows she'd received upon outgrowing her old one. She ran straight for the forest, where her mother had practiced archery in her younger days, where Ruari practiced now.

Ruari liked the calm forest, she often metaphorically lost herself among the beauty of the dense, thriving trees. But, today, she physically lost herself. She hadn't meant to, but while she stood, firing arrows into the knot of a tree, a wisp appeared before her.

The translucent blue glow of the wisp drew Ruari's attention immediately. She knew the wisps were real, her mother had told her so many stories, but she'd never seen one herself. And now, a trail of wisps appeared in front of her. Ruari followed the wisps deeper in the forest than she'd ever been, until she didn't recognize the area. Then, suddenly, the wisps disappeared, and Ruari was alone.

The wisps were not all that disappeared. The sun, too, had set and disappeared over the horizon. Instead, the full moon hung in the sky, giving Ruari the small bit of light she used to try to find her way home. Ruari called for her parents, but there was no response. She continued to wander the forest well into the night.

Back at the castle, Jack and Merida grew increasingly worried. After Ruari hadn't returned for dinner, they knew something was wrong, so they sent out a search party. But, they were as impatient as any parents would be. Merida on horseback, and Jack flying on the wind, they set out together. They sped through the forest, looking for any sign of their daughter.

Ruari continued through the clearing, hoping that she'd find herself somewhere familiar before long. She cursed the wisps for leading her nowhere. They were supposed to lead her to her fate, which, perhaps they had if her fate was to die in the forest.

The thought of dying in that forest, cold and alone, made Ruari afraid. And that fear grew with each step she took, until she thought she'd cry. But then, a voice called to her.

"Are you afraid, child?" The voice seemed to come from every direction, but Ruari couldn't see the voice's owner.

"I'm lost," she replied, wiping her eyes dry. "Can you help me find my way home?"

"I could, or I could help you find a new home, a better home." A figure emerged from the shadows. The voice belonged to a man, or what seemed to be a man. He looked, to Ruari, like darkness. His skin was gray, his clothes and hair so black that they seemed to blend with the shadows that surrounded him. Only his golden eyes shined bright, piercing the darkness as though they were looking into Ruari's very soul.

"I just want to get home, please," she said again.

The man held out a gray hand. A devilish grin spread across his face. "Come with me, then. I'll take you home."

Ruari reached out her hand, about to accept the strange man's offer, when an arrow flew past her head, narrowly missing both Ruari and the man.

Merida jumped from her horse and stood in front of her daughter, bow drawn and ready to fire. Jack flew down and shot a blast of ice, knocking the man back.

"Pitch!" Shouted Jack. "Leave this forest, and leave Scotland! You're not welcome here!"

"I'm welcome wherever I want to be welcome," replied Pitch.

With a wave of his hand, the shadows began to move, knocking Merida to the ground.

"Merida!" Jack shouted. He fired another blast of ice, but a wall of darkness protected Pitch. Jack ran to Merida's side and helped her up. "Take Ruari and run!"

But they didn't have the chance. Shadows took form and wrapped themselves like ropes around Jack and Merida, crushing them together. They tried to wriggle free of the shadows, but each movement only made the shadows tighten around them.

A rock flew through the air, past Jack and Merida, hitting Pitch directly in the back of his head. "Hey! You put my parents down right now!" Ruari shouted.

"Your parents?" Pitch asked. After a quick and swift movement, Pitch was now within a foot of the girl. He peered down at her. "I should've known. I should've known only these two could have a child with such ridiculous hair."

"Let them go!" Ruari demanded.

"I don't think so." Pitch grabbed Ruari's arm and tried to pull her away from her parents.

But a beam of light shot down from the sky, pushing through the trees with a great sense of urgency. The light surrounded Ruari like a shield, causing Pitch to stumble backwards in surprise. Standing in that light, Ruari felt different. She felt strong, brave, like she could defeat Pitch and save her parents all on her own.

And that's exactly what she intended to do. Without even giving it a thought, Ruari swung her arms in an arc beside her, and the wind obeyed, knocking Pitch against the trunk of a big tree.

Ruari hovered in the air and moved her arms in circles above her head moving them in opposite directions. The wind picked up, tearing the leaves from the trees above them. Soon the clearing was filled with moonlight, driving away Pitch's shadows, freeing Ruari's parents.

Pitch shriveled up in the glow of the moonlight, and fell back into the shadow of the forest. He swore to return for the little girl, but another gust of wind sent Pitch flying through the air, until he was gone from sight.

Ruari landed and fell to her knees, exhausted. She lost consciousness, but Jack caught her before her head hit the ground. Jack picked her up, and held her as he stood. He and Merida stared at each other, silently and motionless.

It seemed as if the Man in the Moon had given their daughter a special gift. Though, what that meant for Ruari, and what it meant for her parents, was still unclear. But in that silent stare, Jack and Merida exchanged a promise. They would handle whatever the future brought for them, for their child, together.


End file.
